So the exams are done, you’ve got your results, and the whole world is your oyster.
But no matter how well results day goes, the question of ‘What’s next?!’ can feel like a daunting one, and the jump from education to the world of work often feels absolutely massive.
It’s why The Digital Youth Hub has been created – a completely free six-week course that will ease the transition, give you some seriously useful skills to move forward with, and put you to the front of interview queues.
Through workshops, masterclasses and skills sessions, you’ll learn how to create content, build a digital CV and find out about ways to access Greater Manchester’s booming creative jobs market.
You can get a taste for industries like marketing, photography, web development, social media management, copywriting, podcasting and discover the employment opportunities available for young people equipped with creative digital skills.
ADVERTISEMENT
Each member of The Digital Youth Hub will have access to one-to-one sessions with a talent manager too, to help plan their next career steps.
The scheme comes from SharpFutures and the DWP and has been created specifically for 18-24 year olds who live in Greater Manchester and aren’t in full-time work or studies.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Digital Youth Hub consists of 3 elements: a physical place (at leading digital hub The Sharp Project) to create content, a virtual space to learn and be inspired and an online platform to develop and explore digital skills as you’re learning.
The Sharp Project
The Sharp Project itself, in Newton Heath, is home to more than 60 digital entrepreneurs and production companies specialising in digital content production, digital media and TV and film production – one of which is SharpFutures.
Towards the end of the 6 weeks Digital Youth Hub members will be interviewed to join the SharpFutures POD scheme, which provides a talent pool of people who can be booked to assist on exciting projects with clients such as the BBC and Channel 4.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Digital Youth Hub states: “There are a huge amount of job opportunities out there for young people that can create content, do social media marketing and understand how businesses use digital so we’ve designed a programme to help develop these skills”
“Confidence in using programmes such as: Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, Canva and Google Docs puts you to the front of the interview queue. With additional knowledge and skills in social media management and content creation or project planning and budgeting again increasing your likelihood of employability.
“The Digital Youth Hub aims to give young people these digital life skills that will not only help them gain employment but make them a much more valuable staff member. Many of these skills are easily transferable so if they do change career paths or even decide to be their own boss, they are already a few steps ahead.”
Manchester rent is now ‘41% more expensive than five years ago, according to a recent study
Danny Jones
Yes, that’s right, as per some of the latest data on leased housing in central Manchester, it’s now approximately 41% more expensive to rent here than it was half a decade ago.
If you’ve lived in and around the city centre for long enough, chances are that you’ve already been feeling that difference, especially of late.
The ongoing cost-of-living crisis roughly began in 2021, following the economy and the world essentially opening back up after multiple lockdowns, so it’s little surprise that new research has shown affordability when it comes to renting has been on a slump ever since, too.
As well as the price of seemingly most things in everyday life going up post-pandemic, the average rental rate for even just a one-bedroom flat/apartment has jumped up significantly between 2020 and 2025.
Even some ‘available’ housing in town is being hampered by claddin (Credit: Valienne via WikiCommons)
That’s according to the numbers crunched by credit card experts, Zable, anyway.
Not only did their recent report cite the rent prices going up even before the cost of living crisis – essentially following the outset of the Covid-19 outbreak – but if their figures, the rate of inflation and the unwaveringly high demand for housing are anything to go by, this trajectory is likely to continue in 2026.
As of February this year, around one in three UK households is now a single-person occupancy, which already comes with its challenges (the Manchester City Council tax discount being a thin lifeline for countless), not to mention energy bills and the cost of groceries continuing on an upwards trend.
Put in the simplest and most reductive terms, it’s now almost £300 dearer for most people to live on their own than it was back in 2020, and besides Liverpool clocking in as second on the list of increasingly expensive cities to live (a 42.12% increase), Manchester came in third.
You can see the full table down below:
Rank
City
% increase – 2020-2025
Difference from 2020 to 2025 in £
Average rental cost for a 1 bed 2025
1
Newport
47.39%
£2,611
£8,121
2
Liverpool
42.12%
£2,290
£7,727
3
Manchester
41.00%
£3,364
£11,569
4
Edinburgh
40.28%
£4,620
£16,090
5
Leicester
39.93%
£2,391
£8,379
6
Wolverhampton
39.22%
£2,049
£7,273
7
Nottingham
39.07%
£2,400
£8,543
8
Glasgow
38.02%
£2,679
£9,725
9
Colchester
37.63%
£2,617
£9,572
10
Cardiff
37.06%
£2,828
Average rental cost for a 1-bed 2025
Another fear is that with lots of people finding it hard to manage living in other major cities like London, even those moving to Manchester are also having an impact on how available affordable housing is here.
That’s why schemes such as the new ‘social rent’ development over in Wythenshawe are so important to the current generations of renters, with the possibility of owning your own property in the future becoming increasingly difficult for so many.
It’s also worth noting that Manchester ranked fourth among the British locations where the cost of living is said to have increased the most over the past five years, with the average difference in annual spend growing by an estimated 22.84%.
Millions of UK workers to get pay rises from today as National Living and Minimum Wage increases
Emily Sergeant
Millions of workers across the UK are set to begin receiving substantial pay rises from today.
After the Government announced back in November that it would take the recommendations made by the Low Pay Commission, and increase both the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage, those changes have now come into force in a bid to ensure people on lower incomes are ‘properly rewarded’ for their work.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Low Pay Commission, it’s an independent body made up of employers, trade unions, and experts whose role is to advise the Government on the minimum wage.
As mentioned, the rate recommendations introduced today were agreed unanimously by the Commission.
This means that the living wage, for eligible workers who are aged 21 and over, has now risen by 4.1% from today to £12.71 an hour.
For a full-time worker, that means a pay increase of £900 a year.
Millions of workers in the UK are getting pay rises from today / Credit: John Kakuk (via Unsplash) | Pexels
The National Minimum Wage rate for workers aged 18 to 20-year-olds has also increased today by 8.5% to £10.85 an hour, and then for 16 to 17-year-olds, and those on apprenticeships, the rate has increased by 6% to £8 an hour.
“The recommendations we made last autumn sought to balance the need to protect the economy and labour market, whilst providing a real-terms increase for the lowest-paid members of society,” commented Baroness Philippa Stroud, who is Chair of the Low Pay Commission.
“A lot has changed since we gave our advice to the Government last autumn, and we are now beginning to gather evidence for recommendations later this year.
“The current economic uncertainty makes it essential that the Commission hears from those affected by the minimum wage and builds consensus for evidence-based recommendations.
Workers aged 21 and over are now legally entitled to the National Living Wage after the age threshold for the highest rate was lowered from 23 in 2024.
National Minimum Wage rates are available to workers aged 16 upwards.
Daisy Jackson -
18th August 2022 
